U.S. lawmakers are trying to pass legislation to remove former South African President Nelson Mandela from a U.S. list of terrorists by his 90th birthday next month, officials said on Thursday.

 

South African Ambassador to the United States Welile Nhlapo said he was in talks with the State Department and lawmakers to resolve the issue by Mandela's birthday on July 18.

Lawmakers in April introduced legislation in Congress to remove Mandela from the list, and The State Department and Justice Department fully support the bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 8 and is awaiting Senate approval.

"We have been able to clarify and resolve certain questions that were hanging in the minds of some people as to whether to support the process or not," Nhlapo said without elaborating.

"We are trying ourselves to talk to some of these people, clarify what else they may have on their mind ... so that we can get this over," he added.

The former South African president is still blacklisted under U.S. laws and needs special permission to enter the United States more than a decade after the apartheid struggle ended.